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Goodbye, Old Friend

Honestly, I didn’t know about this till I stumbled up on it. It seems I am unaware of events happening around me. And blogging didn’t help me either. If the other half of the world is ripped off our planet, I wouldn’t know about it either. And it would take me few years to know that our planet is only a half globe, the shape of sand cakes we make in coconut shells.

Till last week, if someone had asked me how many planets are there in the solar system, the answer would have been nine. I didn’t know about the fate of Pluto. The exclusion of Pluto from the list has left the solar system with only eight planets. Pluto was classified as a planet since its discovery in 1930, but in 2006, it was re-classified as a 'dwarf planet' by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). According to the IAU, dwarf planet is a celestial body orbiting the Sun, which is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity, but is not capable of clearing its neighboring region of the planetesimals. (Any of innumerable small bodies thought to have orbited the sun during the formation of the planets) Other dwarf planets identified by IAU include Eris, Ceres, Haumea, Orkus, Varuna ,Ixion, Pallas, Hygeia and four yet unnamed bodies (2003 EL61, 2005 FY9, 2002 TX300, and 2002 AW197).

People the world over are divided into two groups - those who think there are nine planets, and those who know that there are eight planets.

In August 2006, the planet Pluto was eliminated from the list of planets by the International Astronomical Union. We now have only eight planets orbiting the sun. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the so called planet in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff Arizona. Now you can forget that.

Also forget what we were taught as kids. I remember the list of planets was one of the long lists I had learned by heart.

To be considered a planet it should be a celestial body that is in orbit around the sun, has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a nearly round shape and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit. Pluto is taken off the list because its oblong orbit overlaps Neptune’s.

A friend of mine tells me that this whole thing is the fault of George Bush. He was responsible for the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Hurricane Katrina, the Tsunami and Global warming. Now, “because of his inept administration we must eliminate Pluto as a planet,” a spokesman for the Curious Scientists Society said. ( I don’t brag, but incidentally, I am the President of the society, and due to sky rocketing real estate prices, we have our offices at my home). The spokesman for the group also said that “Bush somehow got the notion that Osama bin Laden was hiding on Pluto and demanded that our group vote to disregard it as a planet thereby eliminating his hiding place”.

In any event, we now only have eight planets and this should make it easier for the school children to learn eight rather than nine.

I don’t know what will happen to the astrologers who survive on the Navagrahas. (The nine planets)

I am aware of it but your post helped me learn more facts about the topic. The term Plutoed came out of this ----as in its 17th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “plutoed” as the word of the year, in a run-off against climate canary. To pluto is to demote or devalue someone or something, as happened to the former planet Pluto.

@Elizabethe Many things disappear including people, and now planets!@BKCSeems both of us are losing interests in worldly affairs!@KavithaYou are up to date.Not surprisingly.I liked the word plutoed..like torpedoed !@SGI had doubts from the beginning.You are from RAW,but Obama's spy?

Doc,If you are a surgeon you must conduct surgery based on the disposition of not eight planets but nine and that does not include Pluto and I guess Neptune. Whilst Sun we call a star and Moon , that we call a satellite usurps the places of Pluto and Neptune. The poor Earth is left in the lurch like a Eunuch neither classified as a planet , a star or a satellite.

@ insigniaWelcome.Me too, I refuse to let go of Pluto.At least I found out who was behind this crime.None other than Bush.He made a secret trip to Pluto and failed to drive out Bin laden,and so, took his revenge on Pluto.@ AnilI always carry a compass like many Muslims who wants the direction to Mecca..It helps me find my direction in the hospital!When they allocate a planet for devils,I am sure earth will find its place.Bush had already done a survey to build his head quarters on Pluto, and that was when he found Bin laden there.

I hope those scientists would not moot for the deletion of Pluto, Mickey's and Goofy's dog! Bush being illiterate couldn't have read Walt Disney.

Sometimes one cannot help screaming with laughter at the solemnity of science. How ridiculous to believe that science has the last word on everything! And imagine, there are zillions of planets and stars and whatnot in the millions of universes and here in this petty little earth, these pompous fellows sit around and decide what is a planet and what is not!

Osama should do something about this. It could be probably a conspiracy hatched by America!

Yep..I did read about this ...Pluto being excluded from list of planets and we have jus eight of them now..back what we learned in our school.....is no more Pluto nowthe rest of the story..I came to know from your blog!!

@ I think they never considered poor pluto in their calculations!@ BalchandranThere is a rumor that Osaama is shifting his residence to the earth.That was why Bush was developing sapce stations to hide.Achthanandan recently quoted CBI sources that Bush was behind the recent floods in Kerala and the pipe leaking at Peroorkada.The Polit Bureau decided they will never allow Americans do the repair works of the pipe,and only let the CITU headload workers handle it.

Internist Physician.
Life has been a very bumpy ride, so I could teach others how to ride safe.I cannot believe that the purpose of life is to be just happy. It is to be useful, to be responsible, to be compassionate and above all, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all.